


ground

by elliott (kenhwan)



Series: are you bored yet? [1]
Category: South Park
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Arguing, Boys In Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 16:31:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17749445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenhwan/pseuds/elliott
Summary: “Professional baseball or crack and death.” Craig gave a wink, knowing that the other was just hoping to persuade him into a better future goal. But he was a real asshole.





	ground

**Author's Note:**

> hiya, this is a cryle verse andsome of these r from a whils ago so as theyre rewritten theyll be posted. if theres any weird order things ill be sure to make notes, otherwise theyre in chronological order. enjoy 💞

Kyle was looking out of the window, bored out of his mind as the teacher rambled on about some shit he already knew. Typical day, really. He lazily jotted down notes, and some doodles so it at least _appeared_ as though he was doing was he was supposed to. 

Eventually, the bell rang and he was free. He spilled out of the class with the rest of the teenagers into the overcrowded hallway. He was out of it today, after being in actual hell for about 7 hours at this point. Just as his phone went off and he looked down, he ran directly into a larger human being. 

“Oh. Sorry man.” He blinked up at Craig and proceeded to unlock his locker like nothing happened. 

And Craig turned around and blinked right back, the disdain was so blatantly obvious on his face (as it was most of the time while at school). He sighed loudly and hoisted the bag up, more securely onto the one shoulder it was on. “Watch where you’re going.” He initially deadpanned, but then continued. “What’s your deal?”

“Nothing.” Kyle replied boredly as he started to unpack his things into his locker. “I’m just tired. Kenny’s gone. Like _gone_ gone. And I have so much studying to do if I wanna go to law school. Even though I already have the promise of a paid scholarship. . . I have to work really hard to keep it.”

Craig toed the edge of the lockers with his sneakers, further messing up the worn down rubber. “Gone-gone like how? That could mean so many fucking things I- You mean like dead or he ran away _again_ or what?” He lowly grumbled. 

“Ran off again, but this time he actually took money.” The ginger shut his locker. “This time his reasoning was that he was gonna go to Vegas and become a stripper and leave this place behind along with everyone here.”

“He’ll be back in a few days. If I was a weaker man I’d say a few hours.” Craig rolled his eyes, stray bangs falling down and tangling into his eyelashes. He very ungracefully slammed his back into the adjacent lockers, although his backpack took most of the hit. 

The shorter pulled a face, then looked up to him. “You really think so? I’m not sure . . .” He fixed his heavy backpack on his back, then hugged his algebra notebook. “What are you gonna do after highschool, Craig. . .?” He asked, more quiet now. 

“Snort crack and die, hopefully.” The dark haired boy blankly met eyes with the other, knowing full well that Kyle wanted a more. . . Positive answer. No such luck. 

Sighing, Kyle looked down, then back up to him. “How about college parties and a part time mechanic job?” He suggested, sounding hopeful. 

“Professional baseball or crack and death.” Craig gave a wink, knowing that the other was just hoping to persuade him into a better future goal. But he was a real asshole.

“Whatever, it’s your life. I just know you'd stress the fuck out of Tweek if you died. Pretty sure you're the reason he isn't dead yet. He's got such an addictive personality, I'm sure he’s gonna take any pill someone hands him.”

“And in that sense, I've never related to him more.” Craig almost, _almost_ , cracks a smile with this statement. He glances up at the clock, then reaches over to unlock his own locker. Rather  
ungracefully, he jams his backpack and extra books into it.

“Ew, what else is in there, Narnia?”

“You wanna find out, pipsqueak?” It was a rather dry threat. 

“You're going to fail literally all of your classes.” Kyle said with a sigh. “How does that make you feel?”

“Amazing, frankly.” Craig slammed his locker shut, rolling his shoulders back. “Not all of us have a daddy to give us a ticket right into the big leagues.”

“My dad has nothing to do with it. I'm just working hard, my parents don't want anything to do with me. In their mind I'm just a gay kid in love with trailer trash.”

“Whether your jew dad decides to open his mouth or not, being a Broflovski gets you a ticket in and you know it. I don't even live in a trailer, blindass.”

“I said in _their_ eyes.” Kyle rolled his eyes, looking up to Craig with a soft smile. “Do you have baseball practice tonight. . . ? Or can you walk with me home?”

“I have practice but not till later. If you need me to walk you home I can, the longer I hold off going home the better. If you want you can just come to my practice, I don't fucking care.”

“I guess I can do my homework in the bleachers. . . ? But usually when I go to your practices all your teammates stare at me or you, and isn't that kind of annoying?”

“They can suck my cock. They just think you're the cutest little twink, and that I’m getting a piece of your ass _every night_ ” A smirk ghosted Craigs features, tilting his head slightly. 

Kyle made a face and shook his head. “I wouldn't say _every night_. Once every 2 weeks maybe.” He then looked down, a soft blush on his face before shaking his head at himself. His embarrassment made him falter, “I-If your practice isn't till later, what should we do now?”

The taller audibly snorted, his voice changing from the usual nasally monotone into something sickly sweet. “Didn't mean to get you all hot and bothered, _doll_.”

“Shut the fuck up. Come on, let's go out to the field.” He huffed as he turned to walk towards the back of the school. “When is a little bit later? 3:30 or 4?”

“4:15, We have plenty of time for whatever,” Craig shrugged. He now took his baseball cap off his belt loop and actually put it on, backwards and a few pieces of hair flopped out the opening but kept the majority held back. 

“Whens your next game?” Turning around, Kyle gestured for the other to follow him, “we can go sit by the trees behind the sports shack.”

The ravenette just nodded in agreement, following along with a long sigh, “Thursday at 6.”

“Do you think you’ll win? I wanna know if I should stock up on victory booze or depression booze.” The shorter said with a small laugh, shaking his head at his own stupid joke. Going to the door he pushed it open and held it out for Craig. 

Craig walked out the door without so much as a thanks, silent for a moment as he thought about their upcoming opponent. “Bring whichever is stronger.”

“Depression booze. Boo.” Kyle sighed as he headed out the door. Being someone that basically craved being respected and appreciated; How he ended up with Craig, he didn’t know. 

“If we win I still get to drink it.” Craig offhandedly commented, glancing back to Kyle and letting his steps slow until they were walking side by side again. 

“Yeah, if you win you also get to smoke a joint. What’s your point?’

“I’ll smoke a joint and get hammered whether we win or not.” Was the reply, accompanied by a shrug. 

Kyle scoffed and headed for the little building where the sports equipment and small concession stand. “Usually when you win, your ‘hammered’ is less actual substance intoxication and more adrenaline.” 

“Maybe cause I get the best head when I win.” Craig suggested, sighing as though thinking back on it. “You wanna go behind it or sit inside?”

Kyle’s eyes lit up like a wildfire at the other’s comment right before he half-assedly hit Craig with his backpack. “Behind it. It doesn’t get unlocked until 4 and I’m not picking the lock to be somewhere private for no reason.” 

Craigs face twitched a bit, lightly rubbing where he was hit. “You hit like a bitch. Go on, sit down.” 

“I didn’t want to actually hurt you.” He said with a sigh, looking down at the wet grass with a disgusted face. He went into his backpack and pulled out a blanket, putting it on the ground. It was thin, but good for this purpose. 

Craig, on the other hand, sat his ass down right in the grass and dirt, looking at the blanket with mild disdain. “You really are a sissy.” 

“I’m not a sissy.” He replied calmly as he opened his backpack to fish out a pencil, growling when he pulled out a pack of half empty cigarettes. “How the fuck did this bullshit get in my bag, Craig--” 

“Had to put it somewhere.” Craig shrugged, snatching the the cigarettes out of his hand. “There should be a lighter in there too, its green, toss it over here.”

“My backpack is not your catch-all, Craig Tucker,” Kyle grumbled as he pulled out the lighter, holding it out to him. 

“Yeah well no shit, my stuff might start to smell like books and flowers if I mix my shit with yours.” He pulled a cigarette out of the carton, sticking it into his mouth and lighting it with practiced ease.

“I don’t smell like flowers. . .” The ginger muttered as he pulled out his books. As he did so, a flyer for a law school 3 states away fluttered from the bag. 

The taller let out a puff of smoke and snatched the paper from the ground, looking over it. “You wouldn’t know, humans are physically unable to smell their own scents.” 

“I hope I don’t smell like flowers.” Kyle whispered as he slowly reached for the paper, quickly beginning to defend himself. “Uh-- I’m not gonna go there. I was just looking at it. I’m gonna go to SPU, they have an. . . Okay law program.” 

“Why don’t you wanna smell like flowers?” Craig held it out of his reach. “SPU sucks ass and we all damn well know it.”

Kyle got on his knees and reached for the flyer, more effectively taking it back this time. “So you wouldn’t care if after this year, I moved three states away?”

Craig took a big inhale, looking at him with almost a glare. “Don’t make me all fucking soft, Kyle, but if you actually wanna be a lawer and not be a nobody like everyone else stuck in this town, you need to go somewhere best for you.”

The other winced a little, looking down at the blanket tag. “That’s. . . Not what I asked you.” He scooted closer, till he was almost off the blanket next to his friend? Boyfriend? He could never tell. 

Meanwhile, this friend-boyfriend was having a good 15 seconds of silence and internal conflict, wherein the silhouettes of emotions played before returning to the flat blankness they were familiar with. “No. I wouldn’t fucking care.”

Kyle sat back, letting his shoulders sink down. He tilted his head, messy bangs hiding the upper part of his face. “Right. . .” He brought his hand up to wipe at an obscured part of his face before scooting back and presenting Craig with a smile. “Oh well, that’s not for a long time. Maybe you’ll ch-” He choked on his words, then took a breath and began again. “Change your mind by then.” He then went back to looking through his backpack, getting his homework out and working intently on it. 

Honestly? Craig might have fucked up just a little on this one. On the surface, it seemed that this was him keeping up his image of not giving a fuck, and while saving face was part of it, he knew staying in South Park would take a shit on Kyle’s future (which was undoubtedly bright), and frankly didn’t want to be the reason he stayed in a shithole instead of chasing after it. 

Instead, he tried to burn a hole with his eyes into Kyle’s forehead, wanting him to look up and somehow telepathically understand the things he couldn’t communicate with his mouth, which stayed latched onto the cigarette which was quickly burning into the butt.

Glancing up, then back down, Kyle hummed. “It’s okay, I appreciate your honesty.” He pressed down so hard on his pencil, the lead snapped. 

When the heat got too close to Craig’s lips, he flinched, not noticing the considerably worse taste of the smoke until now. He threw it down by his feet and stomped it out. He took another one cigarette out of the cartoon and lit it, taking a few good drags before speaking again. “Your pencil broke.”

“Yep.” Kyle confirmed, voice monotone. “It doesn’t even hurt because you don’t care. It hurts because you do.” He started shoving his things into his back and picked up his blanket, wadding it up. He then messed the lock of the sports shack for a moment before stumbling inside. 

Craig blinked, thinking over the other’s words for a moment before picking up his lighter and following him. “And what the fuck do you mean by that?”

“You literally lied to my face just now because you don’t think you’re worth staying in this town for.” Kyle looked back at Craig, “Lock the door.” 

“You don’t know if I lied, as far as you know I was 100% telling the truth.” The ravenette huffed, actually beginning to get worked up, something like a rubber band being pulled tighter and tighter. He kicked the door shut, closing the lock on it. 

“Oh please Craig, I know you by now.” Putting his back on, Kyle walked up close to him. He pointed a finger at his chest and pushed it lightly into his sternum. “Tell me right to my face. That you don’t give a fuck if I’m here or not. Say it without having to prepare yourself.”

Caig grabbed Kyle’s wrist, pushing his hand away as hard as he could. “Don’t you fucking tell me what to do, Kyle.”

Said boy tilted his head, giving a slight laugh. “I love you, Craig.” He turned away, shaking a little. “Why? I don’t know. But I do, and I know you don’t want me to go 3 states away. You just think it’s better for me.”

The taller was actually yelling now, animated enough for the stud in his tongue to actually catch light, his fists digging into his own shirt. “Well yeah, no shit I think it’s better for you! Do you really wanna fucking stay here? Do you? Do you want to stay here with all these shitty people and get a shitty education that isn’t worth a single fucking dime in the first place?”

“For fuck’s sake, Craig are you really so fucking dense?” Now both of them were yelling, Kyle whipping around to glare at him. “I don’t care if I’m in this shithole town, I don’t care if I’m in some high class fucking college, I care about _you!_ I care about going to every single one of your games and I care about driving you home when you’re too drunk to function, I care about spending time with you. I don’t care about law school, that was my dream when I had no one. I’d be happy working at the fucking gas station as long as I got to come home to you, you stupid fucking idiot!”

“I’m not the fucking idiot here, Kyle. You’re the only person in this town that hasn’t been fucked up beyond belief by one thing or another and you actually retain some god damn brain cells. You could actually leave and be a total bigshot and have tons of money and a good job and-- And all that petty bullshit! You just said it was you dream so who gives a fuck about me? You could graduate a thousand times and I’ll still always be here. We both know it. You could leave and come back any day and I’d still be here, so don’t say its my fucking useless pathetic excuse of an existence that keeps you here.” 

“ _Craig!_ ” Kyle screamed, stomping his foot and pointing forward. “You think I haven’t been fucked over? Cartman sold one of my fucking kidneys, used to basically molest me all the time to the point I wanted nothing to do with sex. Who changed my mind about sex and people without even knowing it? You. You’re not useless not pathetic no matter what your dad fucking claims and when you have your pets jesus fucking christ you’re so compassionate towards animals. You could go somewhere too, your team is so good at baseball, you might get a scholarship if you pick your grades up! You can amount to much more. . . But even if you don’t, I would want to stay here because _I want you_!”

“I didn’t mean to invalidate what you’ve been through and you fucking know that. Don’t say I changed your opinions on sex, because that makes me sound like I pressured you into it and it turned out good. And I know-- I know I care about animals but that’s bullshit. It’s called giving a shit about the things we stole the fucking planet from. And I don’t care, I don’t give a shit, I _literally do not care_. Because we all know I have no future, okay? I don’t. And don’t fucking pity me, I don’t need our pity love, Broflovski, my grades don’t matter, and it doesn’t matter how many fucking teams we beat, it _DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER_.” Craig let out a loud groan, turning and punching the door as hard as he could, then resting his forehead against it.

“No, dumbass. You made me feel like sex was something good.” He walked forward and grabbed Craig’s hand, looking up at him. He was scowling, eyes firey even though tears streamed down his face. “I. Love. You. I don’t pity you. I don’t feel sorry for you. I’m disappointed in you most of the time, but I fucking love you and don’t you ever act like I don’t. Do you understand me? I don’t care what you say to me, anything you want, but don’t you dare disrespect my love for you and act as if it’s not genuine.” 

Craig looked down at him, then back up with his head straight, teeth worrying deep into his lip. His voice lowered back to it’s normal, flat volume. He cringed a little at the warmth on the hand Kyle was holding, unsure if it was blood or just Kyle’s hands. He clinched his jaw, eyes squeezing shut. 

Kyle’s hands slowly slid up to cup the taller’s cheeks. On his tippy toes, he placed a small kiss on his lips before standing flat again. “I don’t want to lose you. I love you so much.”

That was the straw that broke the camels back. Craig sniffed, face looking pained before it dropped down onto Kyle’s shoulder, his body wracking with a sob. He wrapped his arms tight around the smaller’s middle, holding him almost suffocating close and wetting his shirt with tears and snot and various other fluids. 

Kyle made no comment on how tight the hug was, but merely wrapped himself as much as he could around Craig. He wasn’t as strong as the other, but he was still holding tight. 

After about 5 minutes, Craig stood up straight, eyes facing dead ahead as he let go to wipe his face with his shirt collar, refusing to look anywhere else.

Kyle leaned up to kiss his cheek, hands rested on the other’s cheest. He exhaled slowly and sadly. Craig never told him he loved him back, not once. He never responded. He just ran his hands through the ginger’s hair, eyes still shining a little with tears. He let out a single laugh, almost choking on it. 

“Your hair is always so soft.” 

“Are you ever going to say it. . . ?” Kyle whispered, then instantly winced, resting his forehead on one side of Craig’s chest. Why did he say that? He felt disgusted with himself. 

Clutching Kyle’s head to his chest, his lip trembled and he was so glad Kyle couldn’t see it. “I refuse to say it for your sake, not mine.”

Kyle tugged gently at Craig’s shirt, cringing at the wet spots from his tears. “I love you. . .”

“Baby,” Craig begged, barely above a whisper. “Stop crying,” He knew how he felt about Kyle, but something inside stopped him everytime. He’d feel like even more shit knowing he was the reason Kyle wouldn’t leave, and anything (even acting like he doesn’t fall in love with the way his green eyes go emerald when he cries) he could do to get him away from here would be worth it. 

The boy in question shook his head, tugging his shirt again. “Just once. I wanna hear it once.” He whispered back, looking up at him with those stupid pretty eyes. 

Craig’s face contorted, looking away for a moment before taking a deep breath. He slid his hands up to the smaller’s face , wiping away his tears with his thumbs. “Kyle Broflovski, I love you dearly.”

Kyle exhaled and gave a smile, looking like he had just won a million dollars. “I love you too.” 

The only response was a kiss to his nose, trying to calm the fact he was still trembling. 

“I’m gonna skip practice today.” Craig thought outloud, the nasally monotone right back into his voice like nothing had ever happened. 

Kyle shook his head, wiping his face. “Why. . .?”

“Cause I wanna spend time with you instead, headass.”

He laughed a bit, “Awe, I love watching you warm up. . . It’s 3:45 right now, do we have time to leave before your coach arrives?”

“Sure we do, and if we don’t, what’s he gonna do? Call my dad? The outcome is the same either way. Anyways, I’m not wearing my practice clothes.” Craig offhandedly shrugged. 

“Okay. . . Should we go to my house?”

Craig chewed on his lip, trying to get back to his normal bland expression. “Whatever.” He was exhausted. 

Sighing, Kyle took Craig’s hand and then picked up his bag. “We can take a nap.” He simply nodded. 

“Having emotions is so draining.”

Kyle just unlocked the door and opened it, heading out. Just as they were into the parking lot, their coach pulled in. 

He rolled the window down, looking over Craig with disdain. “Tucker, you and your friends weren’t up to any. . . Shacking up in there, were you?” He looked over Kyle, seeming disgusted. 

The taller just scowled, arm hooking around Kyles waist and yanking him closer. “We were ‘up to’ whatever we wanted to be. None of your fucking business, thank you very much.” 

Kyle lost his balance, stumbling into Craig and hugging onto him. His face began heating up, because wow that was embarrassing. 

“Are you going to change for practice, _Mr. Tucker_?”

“I regret to inform you I won’t be attending practice today, _Coach_.”

“And why is that? You seem to be in perfect health to me. Say, were you-- Were you crying? Your eyes are red as hell.”

“I've been spraying acid in our eyes for all it matters to you. Now kindly, get out of my face so we can leave.”

The coach drove forward slowly, “Be here tomorrow or you're not playing in Thursday's game.” 

Kyle had waited until the coach was out of ear shot before letting out of breath. “Ew.”

“I'm gonna coups de t’at him. Hes a dickhole” Craig grunted in shitty broken french, “Now lead the way.” 

“Coups d’état.” The shorter corrected softly, as he lead the way.

“I don't speak french.”

Kyle just laughed quietly. He didn't live too far from the school, so within about 20 minutes they were there. Right before they went in, though, Craig stopped him. 

“Your parents home?”

“Nope. Mom is out of town on a strike and dad went out on another weird business trip.”

“Great.” The taller took it upon himself to shove the door open at that point, pulling his shirt off immediately. It was in fact getting a little uncomfortable with the various fluids that were on it.

“Make yourself comfortable babe. They've been gone since Saturday and shouldn't be back till at least Wednesday for dad and another couple weeks for mom.”

“Consider it done.” Craig was already half up the stairs to Kyle's room.

Rolling his eyes, said redhead shut the front door and headed upstairs as well. Once in his room, he stripped down to his boxers and dig one of Craig's shirts out of his closet, then slipping it on. 

The ravenette flopped down on the bed, watching with a fond look on his face, simply popping the button on his jeans and kicking off his sneakers. “I've been looking for that shirt. “

“You're the one that left it here.” Kyle muttered as he crawled into bed , pulling the blankets over both of them. Eventually, Craig got tired of this. He yanked the other down after getting tired of his shuffling. 

“I'm so tired.” Craig gently ran his hands through Kyle's hair. “I wanna stay forever. I don't wanna go home.”

“You have a week and a half to live out that dream.” And with that, Kyle closed the blinds.

**Author's Note:**

> if any of this doesnt make sense its because this verse has been grown over the past 4 or 5 years and everything is explained within the first few fics if u pay attention!! but feel free to ask any questions,


End file.
